Organic Gel Nanomaterials

Researchers Create New Organic Gel Nanomaterials. ‘Researchers have created organic gel nanomaterials that could be used to encapsulate pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic products and to build 3-D biological scaffolds for tissue engineering. Using olive oil and six other liquid solvents, the scientists added a simple enzyme to chemically activate a sugar that changed the liquids to organic gels. “We are using the building blocks provided by nature to create new nanomaterials that are completely reversible and environmentally benign,” said Jonathan Dordick, the Howard P. Isermann ‘42 Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.’